


The Ignorance of Loving

by voleuse



Category: The X-Files
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-11-15
Updated: 2009-11-15
Packaged: 2017-10-04 01:43:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 594
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24594
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/voleuse/pseuds/voleuse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><em>Often a sweetness comes as if on loan, stays just long enough</em>.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Ignorance of Loving

**Author's Note:**

> Set after _The X-Files: I Want to Believe_. Title and summary adapted from Stephen Dunn's _Sweetness_.

After the day was over, Scully drove home, trudged through mud as she opened the gate that used to mean transition. She looked up at the sky and wondered if now, finally, she could breathe. The car bumped over the ground, and she thought about options, about him, seatbelt digging into his clavicle as the car tumbled down the hillside.

She put the car in park, kicked the door open. Her boots squelched against the ground as she closed the gate, shut the world out, tried to chase the ghosts away. When she slid back into the car, she turned the radio off, spinning the dial until it clicked. She took a deep breath and finished driving home.

The house was quiet--it always was--and she tossed her keys on the table, stared at the closed door of the study. Habit pulled at her, and the ever-present _want_ she had learned to negotiate. She bit her lip, opted for the kitchen, instead. As she leaned against the refrigerator door, weighing her choices, the study door opened with a quiet creak.

She gathered two beers from the fridge, and when she straightened, Mulder was there, leaning against the wall. He looked at her, a flicker over the set of her shoulders, then a long, direct gaze. "What's up, doc?" he murmured.

"A long day," she replied, popping the bottlecaps off, setting the bottle opener back in its drawer. She handed him a bottle, and he smiled with caution. She took pity, took a drink. "My feet hurt," she confessed.

"Well," he said, sketching something like a bow in her direction, "why don't you take a seat, and I'll see what I can do about that."

She inclined her chin, wove her way around the counter, around him. She paused, just past him, and the bottle was almost biting-cold against her fingertips. He twisted, curved his body at the space around her. "Scully?"

She looked up, and saw him empty of haunting. She touched his chest, his throat, and when he bent to kiss her, she remembered what she had missed, all these past weeks.

His lips were warm when they parted, and he cupped her face with one hand, his thumb brushing over her bottom lip. "I want to say I'm sorry," he said.

"I know," she said. She took his beer, set both bottles back on the counter. "I would, too, if I could."

He bowed his head, pressed his lips against her forehead, her cheek. She clutched the fabric of his shirt and laughed. He pulled away, curious.

"I'm glad you shaved," she responded. "I wasn't a fan of the beard."

"I thought I looked ruggedly handsome," he said.

Scully laughed again. "Get on the sofa, Mulder."

"The sofa, Scully?" He touched her waist, tugged on the bottom button of her blouse. "I'm shocked."

"Really?" She stepped back, began to unbutton her blouse from the top. "I didn't think that was possible."

Mulder collapsed onto the sofa, and his stare was like the sun. "Palm trees," he mused. "Ocean as far as we can see."

Scully knelt over him, tugged his shirt over his head. She dipped her head to kiss him again, ruffled his hair as he gasped against her neck.

"Coconut oil," he said. "And ridiculous drinks garnished with green umbrellas and pineapple slices."

"So let's go, Mulder." She coiled her arms around his neck, and the darkness seemed very far. "Take me there."

He slid his palm up her spine like a promise, and they chased the world away.


End file.
